Nutrition in Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine’s nutrition should all come from natural. The best food is the local seasonable foods. Nutrition in Chinese Medicine is foods’ five taste and five colors. Different color and taste can supply different organ’s nutrition. Or, we can say that different color and taste can tonify different organ. In another word, every taste also has a negative impact one specific organ.

Let’s review the table below:

Five Organs

Five Colors

Five Tastes

Taste’s Yin & yang

Generated Organisms

Hurting Organism

Taste that controlling it

Kidney

Black

Salty

Yang

Kidney→Bone Marrow→Liver

Blood

Sweet

Liver

Green

Sour

Yin

Liver→Tendon→Heart

Tendon

Acrid

Heart

Red

Bitter

Yin

Heart→Blood→Spleen

Qi

Salty

Spleen

Yellow

Sweet

Yang

Spleen→Muscle→Lungs

Muscle

Sour

Lungs

White

Acrid

Yang

Lungs→Skin/Hair

→Kidney

Skin/Hair

Bitter

Therefore, when anyone’s facial expression becomes abnormal, if it’s black, it mean’s this person’s kidney does not function right. If it’s red, it means there is the heart problem, etc.

When any organ cannot function well, the patient will crave for the organ’s favorite taste such as lungs are under a deficiency, the patient will craving spicy foods. It’s due to the acrid foods can help to expand alveoli and make the lungs easier to breathe. It’s the same for all of the other organs.

When the Chinese Medicine physician adjusted patients’ organ. Then, the patient will give up his/her favorite taste. Such as a patient’s lungs’ functions are treated back to normal, then he/she will not craving for acrid foods.

The purpose for our body intake nutrition is to supply our body needed functions. Therefore, food’s temperature and its hot/cold property can affect our body’s functions. For “foods hot and cold property”, you can google it.